WALL STREET JOURNAL

TV Makers Gamble on 3-D at Home

With flat-panel TVs selling for the prices comparable to ordinary televisions a few years ago, manufacturers searching for the next profit boost are preparing a big push with models that can display pictures in 3-D.

The world's biggest TV companies are hoping the move will let them capitalize on the billions of dollars they have invested in display technologies this decade and stay a step ahead of the discount brands that have taken a sizable bite from their market share.

But the potential gain from 3-D TVs hangs on whether consumers will immediately flock to the technology, and whether there's enough appealing 3-D content to draw them. A delay will allow other manufacturers time to catch up, leading to the price competition that routinely whittles down profits in electronic goods. Read more...

ADAGE

Risk or Opportunity? PepsiCo Pulls Beverage Ads From Super Bowl

PepsiCo is taking a gamble, sidelining its entire beverage portfolio during the Super Bowl and ceding ground to rival Coca-Cola, in the midst of a tough environment for beverages.

Following a report in Ad Age that the marketer was considering pulling back from the Super Bowl this year, Pepsi confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that it would focus on its coming "Pepsi Refresh Project," a marketing effort that aligns Pepsi with social responsibility and has a heavy emphasis on digital media. The beverage maker will bypass the big game for the first time in 23 years (though its Frito-Lay sibling, Doritos, will advertise during the event). That's a marked turnabout from last year, when PepsiCo went so far as to block rival Coca-Cola and other non-alcoholic beverage marketers from the first half of the game. Read more...

OTHER NEWS

MARKETING CHARTS: One-Third of Online Americans Use Social Media for Health

While medical professionals remain a keystone of the US healthcare delivery system, patients and caregivers are empowering themselves in record numbers when it comes to managing their own health and the health of their families, according to new data from Manhattan Research, which revealed that the internet surpassed physicians as the most popular health resource for the first time last year.

Manhattan's research's Cybercitizen Health v9.0 study found that the average patient in the US now relies on a variety of media and resources to research disease, treatment, and health maintenance information. Key in this mix is the online access to information, communications and resources found on the internet, which Manhattan Research collectively calls 'e-Health.' Read more...

MEDIA WEEK: TV's Popularity on the Rise

Even though Americans are pushing domestic boxoffice revenue to new highs, an increasing number of them are indicating they'd rather save money and watch television.

According to Deloitte's fourth annual "State of the Media Democracy" report, due out today, 34 percent of Americans cite TV as their favorite medium, up from 27 percent last year. Second through fourth, respectively, were Internet, music and books, all of which are perceived by the average consumer as being less expensive than a night out at the movies.

While 71 percent of respondents say watching TV is one of their top media choices, only 22 percent listed going to the movies among their top 3. Read more...

LA TIMES: Top retailing trend: Frugal is the new normal

While the recession may be ebbing, it continues to linger in the minds of consumers and will dictate spending trends well into next year, according to Todd Hale, a senior vice president at Nielsen Co., the market research firm.

Here's his view of how continued consumer thriftiness will influence spending trends for groceries and packaged goods into next year.

Restraint reigns: The need to save money, unemployment and other economic issues continue to be top of mind, suggesting that any return to past behavior may take some time - if at all.

Value is a top priority: Retailers and manufacturers must figure out how to break through the current focus on low prices to demonstrate some point of differentiation beyond pricing. That's their best bet for improving profit margins squeezed by falling demand and prices. Read more...

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December 16, 2009

NEW YORK TIMES

Magazines Get Ready for Tablets

Magazine publishers are taking a mulligan.

After letting the Internet slip away from them and watching electronic readers like the Kindle from Amazon develop without their input, publishers are trying again with Apple iPhones and, especially, tablet computers.

Although publishers have not exactly been on the cutting edge of technology, two magazines - Esquire and GQ - have developed iPhone versions, while Wired and Sports Illustrated have made mockups of tablet versions of their print editions, months before any such tablets come to market. Publishers are using the opportunity to fix their business model, too. Read more...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Forecasters Predict Ad Stabilization in 2010

The global advertising market will start to stabilize next year, following double-digits declines in 2009, but more-established markets such as the U.S. won't gain steam for some time, according to some of Madison Avenue's most closely watched forecasts.

Fallout from the global financial crisis will linger in the U.S. ad market in 2010, the forecasts say. Interpublic Group media agency Magna predicts that U.S. ad revenues-the revenue reaped by media companies in selling ad space and time-will grow just 0.2% to $162.7 billion and reach low-single-digit growth rates by 2012. Publicis Groupe's Zenith Optimedia, which tracks ad spending instead, projects that it will shrink 2.6% to $144 billion in the U.S next year. Read more...

ADAGE

In Holiday Retail Sales, the Best Ad Doesn't Always Win

New Survey Says Favorite TV Campaigns Have Limited Influence on Consumer Spending

Retailers shell out big bucks on holiday ads. And while consumers like them, that doesn't mean they're influenced by them. A new survey has found that half of consumers say they're not inspired to shop at the retailer whose holiday TV commercial or online promotion they liked best.

"It goes along with the old adage that I know half my marketing dollars are wasted, I just don't know what half," said Mike Gatti, executive director at the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association survey, which was conducted by Big Research. "[Consumers] probably still get a kick out of the commercials, but there are a lot of brand loyalties out there. ... [But it] does position [retailers] in the minds of people whether they shop there or not." Read more...

OTHER NEWS

ADWEEK: Consumers Defect From Iconic Brands

Loyalty deteriorates further in tough times

Consumers are defecting from iconic CPG brands as they try to save money by purchasing less-expensive store and private-label brands.

While this trend is not new, it has become more pervasive since the economic downturn started in December 2007, per eMarketer.

In fact, 59 percent of U.S. consumers reported having switched to store brand food and household products over the past six months, according to a May 2009 study by ICOM. Read more...

MARKETING CHARTS: Top 10 Wireless Predictions for 2010

As the mobile and wireless industry continues to evolve and expand in 2010, it will move toward the cloud, begin to go green and become more social - among other things, according to Juniper Research, which recently issued a list of its top-10 global industry predictions for 2010.

1. Mobile data traffic will put strain on 3G networks: Though 3G is less than 10 years old, 2010 could be the year when 3G networks begin to fall over under the burden of mobile data, due largely to some 33.8 million iPhones that have been sold since launch.

2. The mobile ecosystem will start to go green: A combination of continuing strong global subscriber growth and ever-increasing voice and data usage levels means that the mobile industry is under increasing pressure to develop strategies which both embrace environmental sustainability and substantially reduce average CO2 emissions both in the usage phase and across the life-cycle of a handset. Jupiter research envisions that 2010 will see a surge high-profile "green" handsets, featuring recycled plastic casings, energy saving modes and preloaded "ecotainment" apps which promote sustainable lifestyles. Additionally, more handsets will come equipped with solar-powered chargers; there will be greater promotion of handset recycling schemes. Read more...

December 9, 2009

NEW YORK TIMES

Publishers Make Plans for Devices Yet to Come

Five major magazine and newspaper publishers announced plans on Tuesday to build an industry-standard platform to present their work on the Web, smartphones and electronic readers in a richer, more flexible and more lucrative form than is possible today.

The consortium of Time Inc., Condé Nast, the Hearst Corporation, Meredith and the News Corporation does not lack for ambition, hoping to create software primarily for devices that do not yet exist — cellphones that are somewhat more advanced than anything now on the market, and e-readers far more sophisticated than today's mostly static black-and-white devices.

Read more...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Deal Makers Target Consumer Goods

Mergers and Acquisitions Perk Up for Brands, Private-Label Sellers Amid Spending Downturn

A new wave of deal making is occurring in the consumer aisle.

In recent weeks, a closely-held chip-maker, a juice-maker and hair- and skin-care company have been offered for sale, as a persistent decline in consumer-spending shakes up the companies whose products line supermarket and drugstore shelves.

Read more...

ADAGE

Google Helps Washington Post, The Times Organize Content

If Successful, Living Stories Product From Google Labs May Be Available to Any Online Publisher in the Future

Everyone wants Google to save the newspapers. This week, the search giant took something of a stab at it, partnering with The New York Times and The Washington Post to launch Living Stories.

It's basically Times and Post stories boiled down to bullet points, hosted on Google Labs.

Read more...

BRAND REPUBLIC

Are customer complaints on Twitter good for brands?

Brands should encourage consumers to complain when they are dissatisfied, with the proviso that they respond to the complaint and repair the damage, a new study has found.

The study found people who complain can often be transformed into vocal advocates for the brand if the complaint is managed well.

Today's report 'Analysing Customer Complaining' has been published by Kingston Business School and is written by Robert East, professor of consumer behaviour.

Read more...

OTHER NEWS

Adweek: POS Digital Video Makes Gains

As they seek more leverage with consumers, CPG marketers will experiment with these forms of media. per eMarketer

While consumers spend time making lists and researching product information and sales at home, their decisions are keenly influenced at the point of sale via point-of-sale media, promotion and marketing.

CPG marketers routinely buy advertising time on retailers' in-store video networks to promote their brands, new offerings, discounts and even meal-planning tips to consumers.

Read more...

NEW YORK TIMES

A Big Name in Tech Tries a Common Touch

As the company that makes the plumbing of the Internet, Cisco Systems rakes in the cash, but it is hardly a top technology brand among consumers, in the way of Apple or Microsoft.

While it specializes in corporate equipment, Cisco does, in fact, sell some consumer gear. The problem is that Cisco's efforts to hawk such products have been lackluster. (Ever heard of Cisco's home stereos? Exactly.) Read more...

WALL STREET JOURNAL

Microsoft, Google Take Maps in New Direction

The battle between Microsoft Corp. and Google Inc. has shifted into new territory: a race to see who can make online maps that make people feel like they're really there.

After lagging behind Google Maps, Microsoft this week unveiled an overhaul of its Bing Maps Web site that supplements the traditional bird's eye view of cities and other locations with rich photographs on the ground. In addition to the street-level images pioneered by Google Maps that let people "move" along the roads pictured, Microsoft's technology stitches together images uploaded by users into three-dimensional photo collages. Read more...

ADAGE

Send E-mails Directly From Print Magazine Pages?

Smartpen Technology Suggests New Print/Digital Interfaces

Can you imagine a business card or a print magazine page that can actually send an e-mail or facilitate the transaction of an online sale? Those are concepts that Livescribe CEO Jim Marggraff is working on. The company's Pulse Smartpen -- which is a real pen containing a full-powered, internet-accessing computer -- is a tool that makes such actions conveniently possible. And the growing popularity of the under-$200 device among college students is creating a significant national audience for new sorts of print-based digital experiences. Read more...

BRAND REPUBLIC

Britain's ad industry is to begin monitoring the number of people from ethnic minorities appearing in TV commercials.

The initiative is part of a commitment to ensure that the portrayal of those from Afro-Caribbean, Asian and other racial minorities reflects their importance.

The move is the result of an agreement between the IPA and Clearcast, which clears commercials for broadcast. Read more...

USA TODAY

Could Comcast deal change TV as we know it?

Comcast's deal to buy a controlling stake in NBC Universal has kicked off a vigorous debate: Will it change news and entertainment for the better?

Comcast CEO Brian Roberts says his company will "enhance consumer choice and accelerate the development of new digital products." Read more...

OTHER NEWS

Mediaweek: Hearst to Launch Skiff Digital Reader Service

Marking the latest effort by print media to get ready for e-readers, Hearst Corp. plans in 2010 to launch a service and online store that will deliver newspapers and magazines on a variety of digital devices.

Hearst, publisher of newspapers and magazines including the San Francisco Chronicle and Cosmopolitan, said the service called Skiff, formerly known as FirstPaper, would provide a way for publishers to distribute their content via a growing number of digital reading devices while maintaining control of their relationship with advertisers and subscribers. Read more...

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